Sydney, 28 September (Argus) — Australian refiner and marketer Caltex confirmed today that it will close its 135,000 b/d Kurnell refinery in Sydney in the second half of 2014 and convert it to an oil product import terminal.

Following consultation about the proposal with it employees and its representatives, Caltex decided to proceed with the closure and conversion, first announced in late July.

Caltex, which is 50pc owned by Chevron, will keep its 109,000 b/d Lytton refinery in Brisbane. The closure of Kurnell follows a decision by Shell to convert is Clyde refinery in Sydney to an import terminal that leaves Australia's largest city without a refinery.

Caltex supplies more than a third of the transport fuel market in Australia. It supplied 270,000 b/d of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel in Australia last year, of which around 170,000 b/d was produced at its refineries. It plans to replace all the transport fuels lost with the closure of Kurnell with imports to the new terminal, implying it will import around 90,000 b/d more transport fuels to cover the lost production.

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